Famous Last Words

A significant sermon series for April 2013 as Peter Baker draws 18 years of ministry at Highfields to a close.

Famous last words. Not literally, I trust, but certainly a very significant moment for me. This series of public messages will be some of the last things I say as Minister-in-Residence of Highfields. Inevitably, they will have a certain poignancy and urgency.

I hope in these sermons, that jump around the Bible a bit, to make some honest observations, confessions, applications and conclusions from 18 years of ministry among you.

They have been extraordinary times in many ways.

During these final weeks as I have had visitors to my study, emails to my inbox and cards through the letter box, I have become deeply aware of the privilege it has been to serve generations of Highfielders.

The life of my family has been hugely shaped by this Cardiff chapter. Both my daughters were baptised and one was married here. Such roots in marriage and ministry are impossible to dig up and replant somewhere else.

Our exile south is made easier by the knowledge that this is God's call to let go and move on. But that does not make it simple or painless.

So as I stand on the platform these final few times, my prayer is that we will remember the message rather than the messenger.

I hope that my going will be the beginning of a great gospel era for Highfields, just as, by the grace of God, the one that is closing has been.